Brazilians flocked to the polls on October 5, 2014, to vote for their next president. Yet, after all the votes were counted, no one was elected. This blog entry briefly explores the use of runoff elections in Brazil before discussing the growing worldwide movement to repeat Brazil's enfranchisement of 16 and 17 year olds.

Hot on the heels of electoral reforms last year, small Caribbean island nation Trinidad and Tobago has abandoned plurality voting in favor of runoff voting in its national elections. FairVote is keeping close watch on Trinidad and Tobago, as political parties, legislators and citizens continue to discuss voting systems, including ranked choice voting and fair representation voting, and agitate for reform.

From a poll showing widespread support for proportional representation to the Liberal Party leadership elections held using ranked choice voting to the growing movement for ranked choice voting in Toronto, things are looking up for electoral reform in Canada.

With Mexican voters set to go to the polls on July 1, the country's three-party system combined with its winner-take-all presidential elections create a recipe for popular discontent with no end in sight.

On October 31st, a runoff will take place in Brazil’s presidential election. The leading candidate, Dilma Rousseff of the Worker’s Party (PT), failed to gain the 50% majority needed during the first round on October 3rd with just 47%.

A couple of weeks ago, the Colombian Constitutional Court rejected legislation calling for a referendum that would have increased presidential term limits from two to three terms. This decision prevents President Alvaro Uribe from running for a third straight term in office and sends a strong signal to the international community: the burgeoning Colombian democracy won’t be part of the autocratic wave in South America.